Florida school shooting survivors push for gun control

Survivors of the recent Florida school shooting don’t want your thoughts and prayers. They want action — and they want it right now. Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are speaking up on social media about the importance of gun control. Their stories are heartbreaking and their message is so, so important.

After an armed former student tore through a Florida school’s campus and killed 17 people, some politicians and conservative commentators have been offering up thoughts, prayers — and not much else. When Donald Trump took to the podium to publicly address the tragedy, he zeroed in on mental health issues and completely ignored the issue of gun control. Other Republican politicians offered up vague platitudes on social media but, again, didn’t say much else in the way of enacting change. Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren went as far as accusing the left of politicizing the tragedy.

Can the Left let the families grieve for even 24 hours before they push their anti-gun and anti-gunowner agenda? My goodness. This isn't about a gun it's about another lunatic. #FloridaShooting

I was hiding in a closet for 2 hours. It was about guns. You weren't there, you don't know how it felt. Guns give these disgusting people the ability to kill other human beings. This IS about guns and this is about all the people who had their life abruptly ended because of guns. https://t.co/XnzhvuN1zd

Carly later told Buzzfeed News that she wanted to give Lahren her own take on the tragedy — having experienced it herself.

“I was just thinking about how I was literally involved in the shooting and I was talking about gun control … I just don’t understand why we can’t mourn and use our voice to speak out at the same time,” she explained. “I just wanted to give a first-hand answer to her, so she could understand that this is what we need to talk about.”

Other students demanded action from the government, particularly in the wake of Trump’s vague condolences.

an 18 year old kid, who literally everyone knew was troubled, was allowed to have multiple fucking guns but yeah let’s just send out prayers cause that always seems to do so fucking much

Powerful plea from a student who survived the Parkland shooting, David Hogg: “Please! We are children. You guys are, like…the adults. Take action, work together, come over your politics, and get something done.” pic.twitter.com/UcTNungORp

Never in a million years did i think i would have EVER gone through this. There is NO reason why i should have had to run past deceased friends and classmates to get to safety because there isn’t a control on how easy it is to get a gun. #stonemandouglas#parkland

Cameron Kasky, a student who was locked inside a classroom that day, decided to take his message beyond the 140 character limit. He penned a long, fiercely powerful message on Facebook, and slammed Congress members who are sitting idly by.

“[Marco] Rubio and [Rick] Scott are about to send their thoughts and prayers. Those guys are garbage and if you voted for them, go to hell. You’re just as bad as they are,” he wrote. “…Please don’t pray for me. Your prayers do nothing. Show me you care in the polls. Anyone who is reading this is luckier than many people today. Remember that.”

Yup, sounds exactly right. Let’s listen to these survivors, and let’s see some action. Not later. Immediately.